


I love you for what you are, not what you aren't

by ShadowInTheBackground



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowInTheBackground/pseuds/ShadowInTheBackground
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It was nice."<br/>"Even though I had, like morning breath?"<br/>"It was lovely, I didn't even notice, I swear."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I love you for what you are, not what you aren't

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure about this one, but I'm on a roll this week, so I wanted to put this up anyway:)
> 
> Anyway, as always, any and all mistakes are my own and if you have any comments, positive or negative, I'd love to hear from you!<3
> 
> Check out my other work:)

Liam’s eyes slowly close as the flicker of light across the TV screen comes to a close, a black blur across the pixels, darkening the room and willing his brain to shut down.  A small shudder of a breath escapes his lips quickly; the final exhale before sleep grasps and his mind loses control, surrendering to the slumber his body desires.  “Li, you up?” 

Zayn’s voice is rough like gravel as he tucks his head through the door of the living room, his cheeks and nose flushed from the cold air developing outside as his eyes flicker between the rolling credits of Iron Man and Liam’s barely concealed yawn and sleepy eyes.  “Yeah, I’m up,”  A tiny yawn slips between his lips as he wills his eye lids to play fair and open up to the stunning image of his boyfriend, to allow his eyes to bask in the man in front of him, his face all soft and warm as he looks down on Liam.  “How are you?”  Zayn chuckles as he leans down to pull Liam from the sofa, his hands cold yet comforting against Liam’s own warm ones as he’s lugged out of the living room and up the creaky stairs of the house.

“I’m okay, Li,” Zayn’s hand squeezes between his own palms before a chaste kiss is pressed to his temple, almost convincing his eyes to flutter shut again. “But you need sleep.”  
“Was sleeping.”  Liam reasons, leaning into Zayn’s side as they reach the top step of the staircase and trudge along the long hallway to their bedroom, Zayn’s hand occasionally reaching out to turn off lights and shut doors as they go.  “Was waiting for you and fell asleep on the sofa.”

“Yeah, the sofa,” Zayn toes open the door to their bedroom, tapping along Liam’s knuckles as he sits the sleepy eyed boy down on the end of the bed, slowly slipping off Liam’s shoes and setting them under the dressing table carefully before unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them down his legs, kissing at the lengths of exposed skin the trousers leave in their wake.  “You’re supposed to sleep in a bed,”  Liam smiles as Zayn’s lips press delicately at his flesh and his hands fumble with his boxers and shirt before pushing him up the length of the bed, persuading his pliant, sleepy body up towards the pillows, tucking his frame under the thick warmth of the duvet.  “You’ll get a crick in your neck, sleeping on that thing.” 

Liam smiles tiredly across the room at Zayn as he pulls off his own clothes, throwing them haphazardly across the room to join Liam’s own before tucking his body under the duvet and snuggling up to him, his toes cold as they trek up Liam’s calves.  Liam grins as Zayn’s head falls upon his chest, his breath warm as it ghosts over his taut muscles; his stubble comforting as it scratches lightly at Liam’s toned muscles, a reminder of Zayn’s presence.  “Night, Li.”  Zayn’s lips twist around the words carefully, his jaw working under his skin as he raises his head to kiss Liam’s lips, the embrace soft and slow as sleep edges into each of their minds.  
“Night, Zee.”  Liam thumbs at Zayn’s bare hip, the bone prominent and broad under his fingertips as he draws circles into the stretched flesh, his other hand dancing over the back of Zayn’s neck, toying with the baby hairs at his nape.  “Love you.”  
“Love you too.” 

Sleep comes easily then; the steady rise and fall of Liam’s chest a human pillow for Zayn’s head, his lips pressed to Liam’s collar bone as steady snores and restless noises escape the cavern of his mouth, entering the air; consequently pulling Liam deeper into sleep with the peaceful sound of his boyfriend’s snores filling his ears.  The air warm and soothing around them as they press impossibly close, bodies moulding around one another as they’re engulfed in both their duvet and sleep.

“Li, wake up.”  Zayn’s voice is groggy and foreign in Liam’s ears as the cloud of sleep slowly exits his mind, clearing it and leaving it drastically exposed.  The mattress sinks by Liam’s side, the dip soon moving as the bed balances out again and two thighs are press around his torso, satin soft against his sleep warmed skin.  “C’mon, Li, up and at ‘em.”  Liam groans into the pillow wrapped around his head, nosing at the material but finding no safe haven from Zayn’s raspy voice willing him awake.  
“I am up.”  Liam mumbles into the soft cotton, voice also rough like gravel, matching Zayn’s, as he slowly splits his eyes open, his pupils burning with the harsh gleam of sunlight fingering in through the half opened curtain across the room, opposite the bed. 

Zayn’s laugh is loud in Liam’s ear, making him squirm deeper into both the duvet and the pillow to escape the grasp Zayn has on his not yet conscious mind as he tries to will himself back to sleep.  “Course you are, Li,”  Liam frowns internally at the sarcastic glimmer to Zayn’s voice, forcing his eyes open to glare at his boyfriend, yet feeling like a pouting puppy instead as Zayn laughs loud at his efforts, clutching at his stomach as laughter ricochets from his body into the still atmosphere .    
“You’re a poo.” 

Liam’s eyes are quick to focus on the flash of blonde through Zayn’s hair, his eyes adjusting to the blinding light from the sun.  “Is that,”  Liam reaches his hand out, his fingers dancing through the matted blonde streak teetering in the inky blackness of Zayn’s hair, loving the feeling of the bleached hair between his fingertips.    
“A blonde streak,” Zayn finishes his sentence, making Liam nod thoughtfully, his eyes fully focused on the contrast; like heaven and hell, he thinks.  “Yes, yes it is.”  Zayn grins, his eyes dancing upwards to watch Liam’s fingers play with his hair, leaning into his touch as he stays straddled atop Liam’s torso, his hands on Liam’s chest for balance.  “Do you like it?”

Liam’s lips are passionate and forceful on Zayn’s own as he lunges at him, making Zayn sigh into his mouth, igniting a spark within him as he tugs on the flash of blonde hair, Zayn’s breath heavy as it slips between his parted lips, his tongue dancing over Liam’s chapped lip and over the roof of his mouth.  The true answer to whether Liam likes the blonde streak answered as his eyes glaze over with each tug he gives to Zayn’s bleached strands, carving the sounds Zayn makes into his brain, so as not to forget them; ever. 

The little gasps that escape their locked lips are loud in the room, breathy and heavy in the still morning air as their hands explore each other like they’ve never seen one other before and are just learning everything there is to know about each other.  “Love you.”  Liam’s voice is broken as he kisses wetly along Zayn’s jaw, making Zayn tip his head back, Liam’s long fingers still lingering in his hair, tugging out knots carefully as their lips reconnect and dance passionately against each other, their chests pressed together as Zayn lays atop of Liam, their feet entwined under the duvet.  
“Love you too, Li,” Liam’s eyes instantly fade from lust black to adoring brown as Zayn kisses at his wrist, over the dark ink splattered there, his eyes soft and shiny in the early morning light.  “So much.”  The pair smile up at one another, grins stretched wide across their faces as they catch their breaths and just watch the gentle rise and fall of each other’s chest, of the puffs of breath slipping between kiss-swollen lips.

The sun intruding into the room becomes more prominent as Liam pulls Zayn into his arms, pressing him close to his chest as he noses at Zayn’s hair, the strands soft and familiar as they tickle at his face.  “Time to get up.”  Zayn’s voice is sad as his lips part to let the words slip into the atmosphere, taking Liam’s hand in his own, playing with the individual fingers, toying with them atop the stark white of the duvet covering their bare bodies.    
“I know,” Liam sighs, exhale hot against Zayn’s skin, making him shiver involuntarily yet smile like no one’s watching.  “Guess we better get up then.”  Zayn nods slowly, his hair continuing to tickle at Liam’s skin as he pushes himself from the warmth of their bed, digging his toes into the carpet before trudging towards the bathroom, flipping on the light. 

“Li?”  Zayn’s voice echoes around the tiled walls of the bathroom, fluttering back into the bedroom softly.  
“Yeah?”  
“We didn’t brush our teeth.”  The repulsion is evident in Zayn’s words before he even pops his head around the door, watching Liam pick out clothes for the day.    
“Oh well.”  Liam smiles, looking over his shoulder, to watch Zayn’s face contour into deeper repulsion.  Zayn’s voice is hard and disbelieving.  
“We kissed, Liam.”   
“That we did, Zayn.”  Zayn frowns deeper; his eyes sinking into their sockets as he studies the bright grin on Liam’s lips, the gentle look in his big brown eyes.  “And it was nice.”  Zayn’s eyes widen in surprise, his head cocking to one side in confusion.  
“It was?”  Liam nods enthusiastically, pulling a t-shirt from its hanger before throwing it over the chair at the dressing table.  “Even though I had, like morning breath?”  Liam chuckles lightly before focusing all of his attention on the distressed look to Zayn’s face, the worry lines around his mouth.  
“It was lovely, I didn’t even notice, I swear.”  Zayn physically relaxes, his shoulders un-tensing before a cheeky smile flits across his lips, immaturity dancing in his eyes like a raging fire.  
“I noticed yours, really bad, Li, really bad.”  He announces, nose scrunching up in fake disgust, before skipping into the bathroom, a devilish smile on his stretched lips, tempting Liam to follow him. 

Liam smiles inwardly at Zayn’s comment, at the cheeky light that burned in his eyes, the mischievous arch to his mouth as he spoke, the way Zayn just let go and ran with all of his sarcasm, his joking nature evident instead of the hard mask he tries to hide behind.  The fact he was _himself_. 

“Oh, so it was that bad was it?  So bad, that you were _whining_ into my mouth?”  Liam’s face splits as he hears the squeal from the bathroom before Zayn slips back into the room, his toothbrush dangling from his mouth as he speaks.  
“I did not _whine_ , Payne.”  Liam snorts out a laugh as Zayn dribbles toothpaste down his bare chest, squawking at the cold trail it marks down his bare chest.  “I do not whine.”  
“Okay, you don’t whine.”  Zayn smiles, his happiness flooding his features at winning the argument.  “You just squeal at toothpaste.”  Zayn frowns at Liam, his cheeks flaming a barely conceivable pout on his toothpaste coated lips.  
“Liar.”  
“I would not lie about the noises you make, Zee.”  Liam winks as Zayn’s cheeks darken, the flush high on his cheeks as realisation hits him like a freight train.  “We both know that.”  
“You’re a poo.”  
“You have a blonde streak in your hair.”  
“You have tyre tracks up your arm.”  
“You have an upside down microphone on your arm.”  
“You have my heart.”  Liam’s resolve melts at that, his mind emptied of playful insults until next time as he takes in Zayn’s words, the words that show he doesn’t want to mess around anymore, as he reaches out to grasp at Zayn’s hips, basking in the feel of the sharp bone under his fingertips as he pulls Zayn to him, their chest colliding.

 The stickiness of Zayn’s toothpaste is cold on Liam’s chest as he pulls them impossibly close, a tiny noise slipping past his own lips, making Zayn grin in triumph before Liam is licking the toothpaste from his mouth and sucking dirtily on his tongue, claiming it as his own as he pinches at Zayn’s sides, his body pliant under his fingertips.  Before pulling away slowly, grinning broadly at Zayn’s faraway expression and the cloudy mist to his golden eyes.  “You taste very minty,”  Zayn snorts softly at Liam his smile dazzling and beautiful under Liam’s gaze as he almost forgets his next words, the words that mean everything to him, that have a purpose to float in the air, in Zayn’s ear.  “You have mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that wasn't too bad, anyway, any and all mistakes are of course my own and if you have any comments, good or bad, I'd love to hear from you!<3
> 
> Check out my other work, if you want:)


End file.
